280 



FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



Fig. 46. 



lever, which in turn 

 on the rat. 



fourth perforation, stands on 

 this bait, the bow is bent 

 down till the lever attached 

 to the bow-string can be 

 passed through the loop and 

 rested on the pin-head, thus 

 leaving enough slack of the 

 bow-string bight to form a 

 noose at the entrance of the 

 chamber. The rat, to reach 

 the bait (fig. 46) must put its 

 neck through the noose, then 

 pulling at the bait upsets the 

 pin, which in turn slips the 

 the bow, drawing the noose tight 



I have not found a description of a trap from Polynesia answer- 

 ing to this, though it is mentioned by the Rev. R. Taylor that in 

 New Zealand the rat " was formerly so numerous as to form a 

 considerable article of food ; it was taken by an ingenious kind of 

 trap, which somewhat resembles ours for the mole."* I am, 

 however, informed by Mrs. Pratt, the widow of the well-known 

 philologist, and by the Rev. George Brown that a trap like 

 that figured above was in common use in Samoa ; while Mr. J. S. 

 Gardiner tells me that he observed it both in Rotumah and in 

 Fiji. In these localities the barrel of Hernandia wood was re- 

 placed by a length of bamboo, one joint of which formed the 

 chamber. This information suggests that as the bamboo did not 

 exist on the Ellice it was perforce copied in wood. Some approach 

 to the principle of it is made by the mole trap still used in the 

 rural districts of England. 



CANOES. 



One of the most marked distinctions between Melanesians and 

 Polynesians resides in their canoes. " The Melanesian does not 

 venture far out to sea in his canoe ; and although in the Solomons 

 the natives make voyages from island to island of two or three 

 hundred miles, these are entirely within the group, and performed 

 exclusively with paddles, sails not being used at all. Indeed I 

 suppose the Solomon Island canoes never go out of sight of land. 

 Coming to the New Hebrides, where the population is almost 

 entirely Melanesian, canoes are conspicuous by their absence, such 

 as are seen being the most wretched affairs, and totally unfitted 

 for any extended voyage."f 



* Taylor New Zealand and its Inhabitants, 1870, p. 496. 

 f This statement of Mr. Woodford requires qualification, for on Malli- 

 colo I ain informed that large well-built canoes exist. 



